It’s official: Messy people are more intelligent

If you have a messy desk you’ll probably get judged, but don’t worry – you’re more more clever and creative.

A study by the University of Minnesota has shown that being messy promotes creative thinking and stimulating new ideas. If you’re messy, therefore, it doesn’t stop you being less productive than your tidy counterparts.

The research found that messy people and tidy people generate the same amount of ideas but those who are working in a cluttered environment tended to produce the most creative and interesting.

Messy people are the ones who always have a floordrobe/papers all over their desk/a stack of plates in the kitchen. It takes them like five hours to find anything, but it’s not “messy”: it’s “organised chaos,” and they “definitely know where everything is.”

Employers are always looking for people who think outside the box, and if you’re even a little messy then, according to this new study, that stands in your favour. It doesn’t even matter where you are working, as long as there is some clutter.

And if you are messy, it’s not just creativity that makes you a great person.

You never judge

Tidy people nag you all the time. It’s a constant stream of passive aggressive notes or passive aggressive WhatsApp messages from your tidy housemate telling you to do the dishes, take your clothes/shoes/books out of the living room, “and can you please actually take the bins out when it’s your turn?”

When you’re messy you never judge anyone, because they could probably judge you more. Haven’t washed up your plate from last night? That’s cool, a few days never hurt anyone and I haven’t done mine either.

You’re the life and soul of the party

The only reason anyone is messy is because they’re just too busy to be tidy. Being messy doesn’t mean you’re lazy – in fact you’re probably the opposite. You’ve just got in from work and you have 30 minutes before you have to be at drinks. Any clothes are just going straight on the floor, because who has the time to hang them up?

With a 60-hour working week, making an appearance at every party, turning up to every practice for your sports team, and still making time for the gym, no wonder you’re a little messy. Who has the time to clean?

You have loads of friends

You’re so laid back everybody wants to be your friend. When you have a house party it doesn’t matter if things get a little rowdy, because your house was messy in the first place.

The not judging definitely helps. So what if they haven’t had a chance to tidy their room? Yours is worse.

They’re happy because they know they don’t have to clean up

You’re more fun

You don’t have the same neuroses as those who are spick and span. You don’t worry about a little bit of mess on a surface because you know it doesn’t hurt, and that makes you 10x more fun than tidy people.

They constantly worry about what people think of them and all the bacteria that could be growing if a surface isn’t wiped down every five minutes.

You’re so laid back that if someone wants to add some more mess to your house, you’ll probably help them.

You’re the best kind of housemate

You’re not crazy enough to always go into your housemates rooms without permission. You’ll never be the psycho housemate who leaves notes everywhere telling people to clean.

But when everything finally does get too messy, as soon as you’re in the mood the entire house will sparkle. Because when you tidy, you bring a whole new meaning to the word.